Armand

Vampire Chronicles RP Asks Encouraged tracking: fivehundredyearsyoung character belongs to anne rice

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

The Devil You Know - James

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

geminitodd:

I nod. 

In no way am I ready to accept this. 

In no way do I expect that I’ll be capable of handling any part of this responsibility. 

But I have to. 

For our lives, for Jeffrey. After everything he’s done for us? This responsibility will be mine. 

I nod again and lift my knees up because I can now. I don’t know what to make of this leech. I don’t know if I hate him more than I feel sorry for him or if he confuses me more than he scares me. 

I hear myself say, “Thank you.” But there isn’t even really anything biting or sarcastic about the way I say it. 

I look at him again. “Can I see my brother now?” 

“Of course you can.”  Armand nodded as he drifted away from the bed, on his way to the door.  He spoke over his shoulder.  “I’m sure your brother will be missing you by now.  Just as I suspect Nicolas will be seeking you as well.”

The immortal turned the door’s lock.  A small pull cracked the door open, enough that the medical staff could return inside.  Armand ignored the withering looks directed at him by Dr. Mayfair.  “He’s all yours.”

Brown eyes caught the mortal’s momentarily over the movement of the medical staff.  A warning, perhaps, or a reminder of all they had discussed.  Then the Prelate was gone out of sight, vanished as swiftly as he had come.

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Writing on the Wall [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

fivehundredyearsyoung:

echo-de-la-lumiere:

Keep reading

Armand had arrived.

He had come into the room silently, a figure manifested as if from thin air.  Standing at the foot of the bed in which Nicolas had finally come to rest.  There was no telling how long he had witnessed this manic display without notice.  He had appeared suddenly, a vibrant figure against the sparse backdrop of the space around them.

The immortal had crossed his arms over the immaculate black of his high collared shirt.  His common uniform as the Prelate that harkened back to years of dirty velvet in moldering catacombs.  A time that few living still could remember.  He found this attire to be especially effective when it came to snaring the attention of the mad musician.

“You haven’t touched the blood you were given.”  He assessed without needing to inspect the thermoses for himself.  They were still rich in scent, heavy enough that even through the casing he could detect the odor of that essence still contained inside.  “Didn’t I tell you to drink from it when the hunger took you?  It was such a simple instruction.”

Nicolas’ appearance and manner were similar to a child’s.  So he addressed him with a suitable condescending tone.  It did not impress him in the slightest that the vampire had not fed.  Instead, it clearly raised irritation in him as the auburn-haired teen frowned disapprovingly to find the room in this state.

A child caught neglecting his duties. Nicolas wanted to say he wasn’t a child. He didn’t want to drink the blood. The blood made him remember things. They had talked about this, however, and Armand had been very worried. Nicolas was being selfish.

“I’m sorry,” he said automatically, from behind the sheet still drawn over his nose. “I was…I was distracted. Nobody was here for…for *days*. I forgot what I was supposed to do. But now I will drink!”

He brightened, and sat up. Now Armand was here, and everything would be restored to the usual routine.

“Did Daniel come with you?”

“No.  No, Daniel did not come with me.”  Armand told him, an edge to his voice, as the beauty of his face hardened all at once in a barely concealed rage.  “Daniel is dead.  And it’s your fault.”

It needed to be said, now and then.  A reminder to them both of what cost was paid to the humans that Nicolas had so loved, had supported with such passion.  Armand needed the reminder on occasion himself.  To cement inside his mind for the hundredth time that he was on the right side.

He let his rage go into the cold, dark, numb place inside his soul where most emotions fled.  A curt swipe of his hand gestured at the containers of blood.  “Drink.  Or else I’ll leave.”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Writing on the Wall [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

Keep reading

Armand had arrived.

He had come into the room silently, a figure manifested as if from thin air.  Standing at the foot of the bed in which Nicolas had finally come to rest.  There was no telling how long he had witnessed this manic display without notice.  He had appeared suddenly, a vibrant figure against the sparse backdrop of the space around them.

The immortal had crossed his arms over the immaculate black of his high collared shirt.  His common uniform as the Prelate that harkened back to years of dirty velvet in moldering catacombs.  A time that few living still could remember.  He found this attire to be especially effective when it came to snaring the attention of the mad musician.

“You haven’t touched the blood you were given.”  He assessed without needing to inspect the thermoses for himself.  They were still rich in scent, heavy enough that even through the casing he could detect the odor of that essence still contained inside.  “Didn’t I tell you to drink from it when the hunger took you?  It was such a simple instruction.”

Nicolas’ appearance and manner were similar to a child’s.  So he addressed him with a suitable condescending tone.  It did not impress him in the slightest that the vampire had not fed.  Instead, it clearly raised irritation in him as the auburn-haired teen frowned disapprovingly to find the room in this state.

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

The Devil You Know - James

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

geminitodd:

Armand kept on speaking those pretty words. It was like he was wrapping my head in ribbons, trying to blind me, trying to confuse me. I tried to see him through it, and his meaning. 

Keep reading

“Good.  I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”  Armand murmured when James finally reached the correct resolution.  He reached down then, pale fingers dripping cold touch upon the bare skin of an ankle to withdraw the strap which held it immobile.  The immortal leaned over the bed to repeat this process with the other restraints, rendering the mortal free upon the mattress.

He could be generous when others were agreeable.

It was then that he shifted again into a more conversational tone.  Sitting down upon the mattress again near the young man’s leg, his own hands clasping together upon a knee like they were old friends catching up.  “He is, after all, a broken creature.  Once you have discovered how to pull the strings correctly he becomes considerably more manageable.  For a time.”

“None have mastered Nicolas as long as myself.  I can be available -- to a degree -- for any advice you might need on the matter when it comes to properly caring for him.”  The immortal’s velvet voice continued, tutoring through his words.  “Sometimes he will behave in the guise of an entirely reasonable creature.  Then there may be fits similar to this one you experienced, where he becomes akin to a feral beast.  You mustn’t be afraid to take the power from him when he does so.”

Armand’s gaze lifted thoughtfully to the tiled ceiling.  “I can give you restraints that should be sufficient for him.  If they are not enough to render him docile then several lashes across his back or his ass ought to do the trick.  Sometimes the only means to quiet his rage is to bleed it out.”

“You will find, in time, that it is astonishingly easy to be the one in control when you have him on his knees begging for the mercy of one more blow.  In such a state, Nicolas will do anything that you ask of him.”

“Use the power wisely.”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

Though it had been centuries, Antonio still thought often of the little plank he had been found drifting upon as a mortal boy. He had not felt like that in a long time. A state of cerebral damage…

Keep reading

“I have no desire to manipulate him as one might a robot.”  He shook his head swiftly, scoffing as if the idea were nonsensical.  “What I need is the ability to turn him from a feral brute to a drooling idiot without considerable collateral damage.”

Armand’s youthful face went perfectly blank when Antonio voiced his cautionary words.  There was something long shuttered behind the glass of the teen’s eyes.  For a moment it faltered, enough that sadness sought to pass through the gate of his control, yet the immortal recovered it too quickly.  A passive blink answered the man’s question.

“Doctor.  I made a decision ages ago that I would give up whatever it took for this new world.  And I have.  So if Nicolas must slip further away from who he is today to maintain the stability of this empire -- so be it.”

The corners of his lips shaped the barest of smiles.  “I’ve made larger sacrifices.”

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

The Devil You Know - James

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

geminitodd:

I wasn’t really sure of all the words that Armand said, but it seemed like I just kind of understood it. I wondered if he was pumping his meaning into my mind or if I was just high from whatever they were pumping directly into my veins. I stared at him, I found myself nodding. 

I didn’t think he could ever know how relieved I was when he admitted that the two of us should be able to do it together. I didn’t need his confidence, I just needed assurance that he didn’t think one or the other of us redundant. I was not the spare. We needed each other. 

“Together,” I said, cautious. Dangerous to admit this, but it’s what we needed. Armand seemed invested. This was my condition. Together. “We can do it.” I swallowed nothing, I broke out of looking at him, and looked at the empty cup of water instead. So thirsty. I shook my head. 

“I’m sorry,” I shook my head, looked to the bag attached to me. It was pretty disgusting, wasn’t it? A re-fill. “I’m fucked up. I think…there’s something…” 

I didn’t want to be a part of this. Of any of this. I didn’t want to be a pet nurse. I didn’t want to fight for my life in the house of a madman just so that I wouldn’t be tortured to death. But what choice did I have–did we have? I just didn’t understand why Nicolas had done everything he could to give us a chance to take care of ourselves, why he had stuck his neck out for us so many times, why Armand had barged in with his men and threatened to have us killed, or raped and Nicolas…how he had commanded Nicolas to…to do what he had done to Jeff, and I didn’t understand how tonight, suddenly, Armand was the good guy, and Nicolas was the terror. 

No wonder this guy had an army and an empire and so many servants with no need for slaves. He could charm the skin off a snake. 

I bit my tongue and I nodded again. “Together we can do it.”  

“Yes.  Together.”  Armand murmured, a low, velvet echo of support.

He stood smoothly from the bed, careful enough that he did not jostle it or the man upon the mattress.  Turning his back upon James again he allowed himself to peer out through the nearby window.  Here, in the safety of night, the curtains were open.  Come dawn they might be closed against the coming sun.  Or perhaps the mortal might enjoy the sunshine and what little view there was to see.

The vampire folded his hands behind him, slim white fingers resting against the curve of his spine as he spoke over his shoulder.  “You might look at it another way, if you wish:  That the pair of you serve a purpose.  It is perhaps not a noble purpose, or even one that you might desire -- yet there is safety in it.  If Nicolas succeeds, so too do you.”

“Alternatively, you could be like so many of the humans that reside here in this city.  Purposeless.  Powerless.  Pointless.”  A large brown eye turned to gaze upon James from behind a curtain of russet curls as he placed soft emphasis on each word.  “Whatever potential to be had squandered.  Those ones usually die quickly.  In the end they are only useful as chum for the sharks in this wild, wide water.”

“What power you and your brother come to possess against Nicolas is up to you.  He might tend to fuss, or throw a fit, but I can assure you from personal experience that mastering him is the most direct route to quieting his demons.  Even if only temporarily.  To prevent events like this.  These moments of misbehavior.”

“If you do not wish to fall victim to an incident such as this again then you’ll have to be just a little firmer.  And just a little more clever.  You can manage being clever, yes?”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

The Prelate was insane. That was the only possible explanation. With his genius and his single-minded focus, how easily would he render the entire world the same? /I need to be able to cut him down?/

Keep reading

“Most important is, of course, location.  So that it can be known at all times where he has gone, even when he seeks to hide.  Especially when he might run rampant, causing trouble.”  His mouth twisted knowingly, as if they shared an understanding of this.  Of Nicolas and his dangerous little whims.  Armand with a certain amusement about it.

He gestured lightly.  “Needless to say, it must be a device suitable enough for an immortal of his age.  In his fits, Nicolas can be considerably strong.  What I would need is for this contraption to prevent him from getting too out of hand in a moment’s time.  And if I must reduce him to a state of cerebral damage to achieve that end, so be it.  Naturally, that will repair in time.  We are such resilient creatures.”

The teen met Antonio’s eyes again.  “I must have the ability to be in total control of Nicolas when he is unable to control himself.  No matter what you believe of him in the short time you’ve known him, rest assured that I have known him since the beginning; he will never function without a guiding hand.  So my hand will be his guiding force to keep him back from these mad whims.”

“For the greater good.  Of course.”

“I trust that you can manage something of this nature for my needs?”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

“And what specifications does Your Honor have for the final product?“ he asked through clenched jaw and tight fists, furiously thinking, you motherfucking ¡me cago en tu puta madre, cabrón! Is that how you see us like machines to be retuned and reworked like moving all those gears will bring time back will bring anybody back all those we’ve all lost? ¡Vete a la mierda! See how well the world calibrates you! But he kept his face calm and he added, politely, through his teeth, "how much independent functionality are we aiming for here as the minimum? He still needs to be able to compose.”

“I want a piece he cannot remove.”  Armand informed him, arms crossing in a loose fold over his chest.  “So, not the wrist nor the ankle.  He wouldn’t hesitate to chop them off to escape their weight if he could.”

What he needed was something Nicolas couldn’t shed so easily.  Not without paying the ultimate price for its removal.  Controls that would make him vulnerable, at his constant mercy.

“Around the neck.  A collar will do as much as anything else.  Should he cut his head off to be rid of it then he’ll die.  The loss will be unfortunate.  I’m willing to take the risk.”  Armand shrugged dismissively.  He felt no concern for the welfare of the musician, clearly.  “I need to be able to cut him down when he is in a fit of madness.”

“You’ll find the limits of his pain tolerance -- and then you’ll design this piece to unleash a setting just beyond what he can withstand.  You can make this happen?”

[theamazingdrunk-blog]

Dusk to Disaster [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

theamazingdrunk:

“To be with you, you miserable fuck,” Daniel seethed, past red emotion so bitter he could smell it rolling down his cheeks. “Because I love you.” 

But Armand was gone. He had become the monstrous insect of Daniel’s nightmares again, and the horror of it was that Daniel had always loved Armand and his countless murders. Was it that Armand had refused to see the ancient predatory instinct in Daniel, Daniel who liked to let the hunger build, Daniel who relished bloodlust as much as he did anything else in his Dead life? Was that why Armand could never believe that Daniel loved the predator in his maker? But Daniel had never learned the language that would convince Armand.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded despite his tears and his clenched fists and the utter incomprehensibility of Armand finally shuttered against him once more. “Please, don’t—” Don’t lock me out. I’ll do it. I’d do anything for you, even fight for you if you asked, but then I won’t be me, Daniel Molloy, your beautiful boy anymore. I’ll be someone else you can command. Someone else you can control. But the time for that had passed as surely as Armand was throwing away, perhaps for the last time, any hope of reconciliation.

He shook his head slightly, in a haze of outrage.

“I can’t follow you where you are going,” Daniel said distantly to the thing that bore his lover’s face. He couldn’t understand the words coming out of his own mouth. They had taken on a life of their own, borne helplessly forwards by the tide of his outrage and his anger. “What does that mean, ‘traitor’? For compassion? For protecting children?” He wanted to begin stepping back. The ancient instincts coming back. Go now. Run!

"Will you give me a running start, like last time?”

So this was it.  A bitter end.

He had known for some time that Daniel’s displeasure with how events were unfolding would lead to this discontent.  Never did he anticipate such an outright rebellion on the part of his lover.  Armand shook his head in disbelief, even if he had always known this would be the inevitable truth.

Daniel had tensed, muscles coiling.  Soon he would flee.  It was an old dance for them.  He recognized the signs of the steps in the other man’s posture.  His face raised as he elevated his chin proudly.  There would be no tears nor begging him to remain.  Not this time, nevermore.

“Run then.  Run as fast and as far as you think you must, Daniel.  However, I have no intention to chase you.  Never again.”

He turned in a smooth motion to begin walking away down the corridor.  What need did he have to watch Daniel sprint off when he could easily thwart that by his own retreat from the area?  Plenty more words danced on the tip of his tongue, sharp and searing and prepared to fling their barbs over his shoulder at the other man yet he bit them in with stubborn determination not to show one more hint of how afflicted this made him.

Armand paused at the turn of the corridor to look back.  One large dark eye carved into a pale face by the moonlight streaming in through towering windows.  A last glimpse of Daniel’s face and form before he would divert his path from the only person who might have diverted him from his -- a silent parting made as the auburn-haired teen stepped out of sight.

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

The pause had been intentional. Antonio could not imagine the Prelate stumbling over any words. He famously possessed a single-minded focus ordinarily reserved for children and assassins.

Re-orientation.

He’d heard stories of the Moment Musical in the war. How Warm and Cold alike sought to evacuate when the monster was deployed. Perhaps it *was* a grand fit of madness. After all, no one was left to say otherwise. And Antonio would—

‘I might be a medical research doctor, but I still took the Hippocratic Oath,’ he wanted to say.

'You 'oriented’ him a long time ago, didn’t you?’ he wanted to accuse.

“My specialty is neurology,” he tried to explain. “Even if he were not a vampire, these things, they take time. Discretion, you know I have. I cannot cure centuries of…of orientation, not in months, not in years. A patient can only endure so much.”

That he took even a moment to consider Antonio’s words was an act of generosity.  It obviously did not please him to hear what sounded suspiciously like an excuse not to grant his orders.  Armand finally shifted his weight aside with an airy pitch of a slim shoulder.  “Nicolas is an astonishingly resilient individual.”

“I can accept you managing it in months.  I would prefer far less time for results but if that is what must be done then so be it.”  A finger pointed its length at the surgeon with a slow returning smile.  “You will make sure that this is expedited in as little time as possible.  I want him re-tuned and re-worked.”

“It may be that most patients can only endure so much and yet...”  The immortal teen’s expression was confident as he sentenced Nicolas further.  “I care little for where the limits of his endurance end.  There is much to atone for.  In the long run, he will thank you for your kindness.  Just you wait and see.”

[theamazingdrunk-blog]

Dusk to Disaster [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

theamazingdrunk:

A noise of disbelief escaped Daniel at the finality of his lover’s words. They felt like poison, like ugliness and a wretched breakdown of feeling. What Armand must be going through, to…to fall back on old times.

“I cannot be trus—I help kids, Armand! I help kids who look like you and who shouldn’t go through this! You’re grounding me because of that? Because I don’t want you to kill off the human race? Or cull it like livestock? 

“If I want to bring supplies across borders to a refugee camp, who’s going to stop me? ‘You can’t be everywhere, Daniel,’ isn’t that what you say?” Armand’s beloved fledgling goaded. His violet eyes were dark with anger and offense.

“These aren’t rumors! They’re people’s lives! You can’t control them, and you sure as fuck can’t control me!”

Standing straight-backed as Daniel shouted at him, Armand witnessed the storm roiling in the eyes of his lover.  As they flung words at one another like transgressions, like bombs.  The mockery in the other man’s tone pushing at the buttons in him as only Daniel knew how to do.  That condescending tone as if he were a child.

It had reached the pinnacle already.  All that was left was the void where there was nothing more to say.  He parted his lips with the intent to shout back, to shout anything at all, whatever harsh, biting criticism might put Daniel in his place.  Nothing came forth.  He was rupturing within.

The shattering inside, pieces collapsing together, eroding into new shape.  Hardening with an intense new pressure.  Even against the sight of his beloved fledgling.  This man yelling at him like a stranger.  How utterly surreal this seemed.  He couldn’t fathom that standing on the opposing side was this very person who he had trusted would not go down this path of parting again.

Not again.

Armand’s silence broke before he could flounder completely.  “Go then.  Do what you wish.  Don’t think that you have my blessing.  Or that what you do isn’t traitorous against everything we are.  That you aren’t betraying me.  Don’t you ever pretend otherwise.  Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that I would ever forgive you for it either.”

“If humanity is what you want so much, Daniel -- then go be with them.  But you’ll never again be standing at my side if that is your choice.  You gave them up long ago to become what you are.  I’ll not tolerate the weakness of a traitor’s nostalgia when my survival is on the line.”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

It must be lonely, Antonio suddenly reflected, to know everything that will ever happen to you. To recognize every travesty. To contain and control. He wondered who Armand had lost. They all had lost someone in the war, and now he considered the possibility that Nicolas had lost himself. Willingly.

For the violinist had only a week ago enthusiastically shared how Armand would listen patiently to his efforts. How patient and generous Armand was. He must have told Armand everything. The fool. The Prelate was not known for lying. He made you into a lie until you shaped yourself to his expectations. The madman had been in love. Possibly still was. Armand needed no other key.

Antonio looked back at the elder’s empty, ponderous stare and his heart bent under the weight of centuries.

“Nothing,” he said, throat dry. He should have taken his blood reserves out of the fridge first. An idle thought, with certain death and uncertain servitude facing him with the empty, uncaring gaze of this shell of a boy. This was no duel of wits or words. Armand was laying out the maze before him and Antonio would have to scramble through to the cheese.

“I was plainly deceived. I know nothing of the fate of such…fantasies.” It made him feel sick, to throw Nicolas under the carriage like this, his brother and comrade in arms. “What docile and obedient rôle can someone like myself play for your regime? Surely you do not want for collaborators.”

“Collaborators I have aplenty.”  Armand confirmed in a reasonable voice.

It seemed Antonio was on board.  Or very keen on saving himself from a swift end to his eternity.  Funny how it was that those promised forever were swayed when that promise could be revoked in the blink of an eye.  Humans died effortlessly.  Vampires did so a little harder.  It was common knowledge that the Prelate -- former Coven Master -- knew all the ways to make it easier.

“I was thinking more of a management role for you.  More specifically, a role in managing Nicolas.”  The boy smiled politely.  Viciously bold in the face of Antonio’s submission.  “Once he recovers from his.. re-orientation.  Steps will need to be taken to guarantee that he doesn’t succumb to such grand fits of madness in the future.”

“You, Antonio, have the skills necessary to help me contain Nicolas in a way that does not incapacitate him beyond all usefulness.  I have some ideas in mind yet I require your experienced hand to bring them to fruition.  The Court cannot be without its musician forever, after all.  People will expect to see him again soon.  So we will act with haste and discretion.”

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

The Devil You Know - James

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

geminitodd:

[Truncated for length.]

He really was going to torture me to live, wasn’t he? 

I looked away from him on purpose, maybe for the first time tonight. I didn’t know what to say to him, and not because I was afraid of saying the wrong thing: I just really didn’t know. 

“I don’t know,” I said. I didn’t know how I felt about this, about Armand, about Nicolas, and I didn’t know what to do. I needed my honesty, but somehow this candidness seemed like I was doing this vampire a favour. I didn’t know why that was either. 

“Nicolas…” I frowned. I didn’t really feel right talking about him with Armand. “Is…sensitive. And fragile. But…” I looked at Armand again. “He’s…strong too but it’s…a sad kind of strong. Not hard-strong like something that would crack but…but soft-strong like…like you can twist him any way and he won’t break but he still hurts. I see…all the ways he should have been broken but he’s…he just isn’t. He keeps going. But…but I think because he does that he doesn’t know what’s good for him or how to do it right anymore and that’s…it’s terrifying, you know? He’s…complicated, he’s…chaotic. He…” I struggled, frowning still. I made a little sound of frustration. “I don’t know, I just don’t know what to do half the time like do I leave him alone or do I harass him until he…?” I shook my head and lowered my voice. “Cuz, he listens to me…sometimes. Not to Jeff, not so much or in the same way or…but Nicolas listens to me sometimes and I just wish…I wish it wasn’t just…I hate feeling like a traitor for needing him to drink me but…” I sighed. “I just wish I could help.” 

I looked at Armand and this felt like a dream. “That’s so…pathetic,” I said softly, eyes narrowing. “I don’t think…I don’t think anything can help us.” 

I couldn’t help but think it: why don’t you just leave him alone. 

“I can’t leave him alone.  Obviously.”

The immortal found no shame in pilfering that broadcasted thought and echoing back an answer.

Armand’s boyish face turned once again wistful as he sighed, the action entirely human and out of place with his stillness.  “Nicolas was always unstable.  I had a part in rendering him so, to an extent, at the very beginning of his creation.  It was through my actions that his Maker was driven to bring him over as one of us.  The instability, the insanity, the depression -- those were qualities of his deceptively hidden before the transformation.”

“Being his caretaker for many years, I do know how difficult managing him can be.  He can be entirely impossible at times.  On those occasions the only means to control him is a firm hand.  Violence.  I have never understood why it is yet for whatever reason the abuse is the only thing that brings him back into his right mind.  Sometimes it is the only medicine which cures his afflictions.”

“He is such a zealous believer in the demons in his mind that the only way to reach him is to exorcise them.  Only then is he satisfied and, for a time, reasonable.”  Shaking his head he looked back at James.

“Nicolas is broken.  He will never be mended.  He will never be well.  That was his doom before the Blood ever touched his lips.  Some souls simply were never meant for this existence.  So I would not deceive yourself into believing you can ever repair him.  Centuries later, nothing has.  What you interact with is the happy medium he has managed to achieve.”

Armand considered the mortal carefully.  “If you want his compliance, order it.  If you want his obedience, command it.  You are his mortals, yes, and in the natural order of things this would place you in an inferior role.  However, Nicolas is no ordinary vampire.  He needs a strong person to keep him in line.  For God’s sake, there are two of you.  One could think you’d manage.”

[theamazingdrunk-blog]

Dusk to Disaster [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

theamazingdrunk:

“Why are you escalating this?! You used to be human!” Or did you forget that, too? I am sorry you do not think yourself worth saving. I am sorry that you think the stain of a handful of innocent lives will not be much in the grand scale of your crimes by brainwashing and coercion. I am sorry you are making me do this and you won’t stop me if I walk away. When I walk away.

He couldn’t unclench his fists somehow.

“I tried. I even reported operative movement and supply chains! I just kept meeting all these people and, and we can’t keep doing this. Sweetheart, it’s not a handful. It’s going to be billions if we don’t stop. You won’t be able to stop it in time. Remember your history.” His jaw was hurting. Breathing hurt. Something in his chest was aching and it didn’t feel right.

“Would it matter if it were?” Fuck you for making me say this.

As Daniel was speaking, an unfolding string of self-incriminating implications and damning words, Armand gazed at him with a shuttered gaze.  There was nothing in the thin line of his lips that betrayed emotion.  He stood in silence while his fledgling confirmed his suspicions.

Finally, he spoke again.  “You talk about all of this as if I am the only one with a hand in this.  Like you believe I have sway or say in how all of this will play out.  I can only control what I can control.  The rest I must put my trust that the others will do their parts accordingly and in keeping with what the majority decides.”

“I cannot control them at all.  You, however, are another matter.”

Drawing his shoulders up into straight lines, the old authoritarian in his black garb, his next words were delivered in a cold, passionless tone.  “I am removing you from your position, Daniel.  Your clearances will be revoked.  Your travel permissions rescinded.  No longer will you be privy to information regarding our intended plans of action.”

“If you cannot be trusted then there is no place for you in our efforts moving forward.  Consider it a blessing:  Now you’ll have plenty enough time to listen to rumors to your heart’s content, Beloved.”

[echo-de-la-lumiere]

The Boards Did Shrink [a mortal!bloodslaveAU interlude]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

echo-de-la-lumiere:

The rest. He shivered at the lives that Armand shrugged off. They were useful to him or they were the rest. How had they not seen this coming? How had Nicolas been so blind, when he should have known the most out of all of them?

For a vampire, Antonio rarely felt muscular discomfort. He barely recognized the rare sensation of every muscle in his body tightening to run, even as he tried to relax with every step Armand took towards him.

Oh Nicolas. What did he do to you? A lunatic. No doubt about that now. If the next word out his mouth was anything but ‘yes,’ there was little chance of Antonio staying alive this close in reach of Armand, let alone being permitted to exist as a dribbling idiot.

“Yes,” he said. And then, because he was a man of if not honor then at least loyalty, because those were his *friends* this cabrón had shrugged away like they were /nothing,/ he spoke again, this time with none of the certainty of his last utterance. But he had to ask it. The man had been like a brother to him. The things they had shared.

“Is that what is going to happen to him? He is being driven mad?”

It was fortunate that Antonio understood the gravity of his position.  Just how thin a line he was walking in current company, given that Armand could at any moment cause him to disappear just as others undoubtedly were at this very second at other locations.  Those deemed a danger to their society.  Yes, threats to the greater good, and of course the Prelate was dutiful in guaranteeing that no such risks threatened their peace.

Armand smiled faintly as the man dared to question him on the fate of Nicolas.  A charming tilt of his head and an upturned brow indicated how amused they made him.  “Driven mad?  Oh, no.  No, no -- Antonio, this is where you are terribly, sorely mistaken.”

“Your efforts were always placed in the stock of a mad man.  Since the very night he pressed his lips to our wicked blood and discarded his mortality, he was a broken thing.  Do you actually believe that this ever changed?  That because he is charming, even charismatic, he is liberated from the disease of his own shattered mind?”

Sighing, the boy looked aside.  “Nicolas did well for a number of years.  Given purpose and direction, why, he even carried on the semblance of a sane man.  Yet like any common drunkard it was only a matter of time before he fell off the wagon, to use the phrase.”

“He is being cared for.  Contained.  And when he surfaces from that confinement I can promise you that he will be docile.  Obedient.  Far more reasonable than he has been these last few months plotting rebellions and revolutions.”

The elder immortal returned a heavy stare upon Antonio.  “Oh, but I am sure you know nothing about those plots.  Correct?”

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

The Devil You Know - James

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

geminitodd:

I tried to breathe normally when he reached for me, even when I saw that he was just pulling the straps across my chest and stomach and legs loose. He made his cautionary threats again, but I had no intention to run away from Nicolas and straight into Armand’s den. I had no intention of abandoning my brother for any fate, to make him suffer Nicolas on his own. Armand was wrong: neither of us would have survived even this long if we hadn’t worked together as often as we already had. 

Keep reading

“I’m not sure.  I don’t remember human biology accurately.”  Armand shook his head.  He clasped his hands upon his knees, thumb rolling against the fabric of his pants as he made no effort to leave his position.  It did not seem that he was in any rush to leave James alone.

His pale face went contemplative.  “I took classes on human biology, a very long time ago.  Biology, anatomy, basic human sciences.  Education was offered so freely back then.  Evening classes that humans could attend who were employed during the day.  And I would sneak in pretending to be one of them to learn these studies for myself.”

The vampire’s gaze lowered to the floor.  Occupied by memories associated with that confession.  Or merely surprised to have retained any sense of fondness for a time spent trying to blend in with those who he had helped eradicate.  Those who were controlled under his regime.  To think that once he had sat in a classroom among many heartbeats, Daniel’s strongest beside him, as he dutifully jotted down notes from a human teacher.

All of it surreal.  A faded thing, like a dream he couldn’t grasp, something hazy and buried within himself long ago.  Lifting his gaze up as he pulled free of those memories like heavy waters, the immortal looked once again at James.  “I imagine the doctors will return when they think it is time.”

“Tell me.  What can I do to assist you with handling Nicolas?  He is a handful even for an immortal.  You would serve me best in maintaining him with the right resources.  The right tools for the job.  He just put you both in this hospital, and if I am to invest time into your continued stay in his company, then measures must be taken.”

[theamazingdrunk-blog]

Dusk to Disaster [mortal!bloodslaveAU]

[fivehundredyearsyoung]

theamazingdrunk:

The tender moment was broken. For the space of a breath, he could hold Armand to his chest and feel like the world had found peace. With a foolish desperation, Daniel had wanted to believe it wouldn’t come to this, that he could patiently convince Armand otherwise for a change. My decisions for us weren’t always the best: understatement of the century. 

He frowned, his heart leaping to his throat and hammering back down to his guts, if he still had any, and frankly he didn’t really want to know. In the face of Armand’s scowl and authority, Daniel had few defenses save for false cockiness and and surly sarcasm. A sinking feeling grew within Daniel as an old emotional pathway opened before him.

“Excuse me, you ‘order’ me? No, no, no, you listen to me, I thought you were mother henning me again, posting me away from the front lines. Now you tell me it was to hide what, your fucking war crimes? That’s what this is, isn’t it?”

He stepped back from his beloved maker with a stormy expression in his narrowed violet eyes, though his hands ached to hold Armand once more. But the steel core of his tender heart could not stomach his unrepentant touch any longer. Children. Babies.

"I’ve never needed ‘protecting’ from you,” he seethed, “Maybe from the Prelate or whatever Chief Asshole title you’re calling yourself these days, who knows anymore. But never from you.

“I thought you trusted that I love you no matter what. And you were the one who told me to scout, so I scouted. I stuck my head in. And yeah, maybe I happen to just have a lot of edible food and canned goods and stuff in my pack when I go out!

"And I’m not the only one,” he finished with a triumphant gleam in his angry, tear-filled eyes.

“War crimes?”

Armand’s scowl darkened as he placed a hand on his hip.  His stance guarded but confident, with that old air of superiority.  Daniel was his fledgling, yes, and his beloved, but the man was also in a position of operations far lower than his.  He sought to keep his cool by remembering that.  Pretending as if this were no more than a discussion with an inferior officer.

“This is not some pathetic battle for lands or titles.  This is a global scale fight for survival.  For the future of immortals everywhere.  To protect ourselves.  You speak of the loss of humans as if there aren’t billions of them.  Billions of them, and fewer of us every night.  We are fighting an uphill battle across this world and you wish to cite atrocities done to a handful of innocents?”

Angry.  He felt so angry.  And betrayed, yes.  Not because Daniel was admitting to providing aid to their enemy but that his words sounded entirely treasonous to everything they were fighting to achieve.  To side with the humans?  Armand steadied himself, silent, to regain control of his anger before it could explode.

“I can commend humanitarian aid.  Alright?  You have a charitable, caring heart.  If that is what you wish to devote yourself to doing then so be it.”

“What I’m reading in your words -- and I hope that I am wrong, Daniel -- is that you would rather help them than us.  Is that true?”